He reported that he only needed to practice if he wanted to play drums again – but his latest comments suggest it might not be so straightfoward.

Collins tells the Telegraph: “I’d love to do it, but it puts a bit of a kibosh on it if I can’t play the drums.

“There’s no reason why the three of us can’t get back together, though. We still get along – always have done.

“The voice is alright, that’s the main thing. Considering a lot of people don’t even know I play drums, I could get away with it. It would piss me off, because it’s the reason I started doing this in the in the first place – but I’m not sure anyone else would care.”

In the first instance he’s aiming to restart his solo career with a run of live dates that won’t take the form of a traditional tour.

He says: “Kate Bush did shows in London and people came to her. Billy Joel plays once a month at Madison Square Garden. Bryan Adams does two or three weeks of touring with lots of breaks – so it can be done.”

But Collins admits: “I’ve got a lot of questions myself – I wish I had some better answers.”